A vehicle state police said might have been a white truck hit a horse on this stretch of Van Horn Road in Blackman Township.

BLACKMAN TOWNSHIP, MI -- More like a puppy than a horse, he was an affectionate animal who would nibble on Marleen Nutter’s ears, pick at her pockets and stick his nose in her hair.

“If I ever had a horse for a soulmate, he would be it,” Nutter said of the nearly 4-year-old Tennessee walker and racking horse she called Bullet.

Early Thursday, a Ford vehicle, possibly a white truck or other large model, hit the animal on Van Horn Road, west of Murray Road, in Blackman Township, and then left the area, Michigan State Police reported.

Bullet, a well-bred gelding whose registered name is JFK Administration, died before Nutter said police woke her to tell her of the crash. A passing motorist came upon the horse in the road and called 911 at 12:48 a.m., Trooper Jim Wojton said. Bullet had left his pen while Nutter was asleep.

On the south side of the road, the horse’s legs were broken and his skin was torn away. Somber, Nutter was on the verge of tears as she flipped through graphic pictures she took with a digital camera.

“I paid a lot of money for him and someone just runs him over like he’s a piece of trash,” said Nutter, 53, who purchased the horse about two years ago for $5,500.

The driver left the scene, leaving vehicle debris scattered from 3438 Van Horn Road, where Nutter keeps her horses, and a neighbor’s driveway. Her husband, David Nutter, said police collected some of the pieces to determine the vehicle type.

It is possibly white and had a bug guard with an American Flag motif and a Tompkins Center vanity license plate picturing horse-drawn implements, Wojton said.

State police Sgt. David Hampton said the vehicle likely has much front-end damage. It was leaking fluid, he said.

Police followed a fluid trail to County Farm and Dearing roads in Sandstone Township, Wojton said.

Wrecker service or automotive businesses were notified of what happened and police are hoping someone will come forward with information.

The truck dragged the horse about 30 yards, Hampton said.

Nutter said Bullet got through the electric fence surrounding his pasture behind the Van Horn Road address. Unbeknownst to Nutter, the fence was not hot. She and David Nutter think a recent thunderstorm disabled it, knocking out the power.

She said, based on his tracks, Bullet was not in the road. He was at the end of the driveway, she said, and the vehicle would have had to leave the road to strike the horse.

Wojton disputed this. It appeared from the "debris field" that the vehicle was in its appropriate lane, he said.

Marleen Nutter said she found Bullet online and brought him to Michigan from southern Ohio. His father was a national champion show horse, she said.

He went with her on camping trips to northern Michigan, and once a week, they rode horse trails in the Pinckney area. This year, he started jumping downed trees, she said.

Nutter has had horses all her life. She clicked only with Bullet and two others.

"She loved that horse," her husband said.

Bullet kissed her face and would drink her Mountain Dew, she said. Sometimes she’d try, to no avail, to push him away. “He didn’t want me to leave his side, ever.”

She hopes police find the culprit. He or she should reimburse her for the loss, she said.

Don Palmer, an equine veterinarian who lives near Nutter, said horse-vehicle crashes happened a couple times a year when he lived or worked in Quincy, where Amish buggies travel the roads, but are not heard of in the Blackman Township area.

Wojton had never before reported a vehicle-horse accident.

Anyone with information is encouraged to call the Jackson state police post at 780-4580.